Sibling symphony
Austrian drama Mozart/Mozart pushes the sister of the Austrian composer into the limelight. Showrunner Andreas Gutzeit discusses reimagining the Mozart legacy, playing with history and the creative use of music throughout the six-part series.
While much is known about child musical prodigy and composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a new German-language series is set to put his sister in the spotlight.
Mozart/Mozart is described as a “fresh and bold” reimagining of the Mozart legacy, with a story that centres on the equally talented Maria Anna Mozart. When her younger brother begins to spiral out of control, Maria Anna steps into his shoes to save the family’s legacy.
For showrunner, head writer and executive producer Andreas Gutzeit (Sisi), the chance to tell a story about an “icon” such as Wolfgang Amadeus came with the challenge of going beyond what audiences might know already about him and the chance to “surprise” them with something new and memorable. He landed on Maria Anna, who was also known as Nannerl.
“When we started our research and looked for ways into the story, we very quickly came into Nannerl,” Gutzeit tells DQ. “This Nannerl thing in German, to me, when I read it, I was like, ‘How can anybody call a young woman Nannerl?’ That sounds like a cow. That’s when it clicked for me.
“We quickly found the type of woman that we needed to tell the story, somebody that was under-appreciated, pulled off the stage at the tender age of 14 after being the real prodigy, the first wunderkind. Only after she was gone was Amadeus the one that was favoured and put to the test, because the society was like that.”
Maria Anna then remained at her brother’s side for most of his life, “and we just took that one step further,” the showrunner continues. “What would happen if, like a good rock star, at the top of his career, down he goes? Who would save the firm? Who would save the name? Who would save the music? Then we had our story.”
While he wants to surprise the audience, Gutzeit himself was surprised that no one had ever thought to tell a story about the other Mozart sibling. Taking on that idea, “we decided not to be true to the history,” he says. “It is not a biopic at all, but it is true to the emotional veracity of these characters – and it’s a lot of fun.”
Boasting a classical soundtrack with contemporary edge, Mozart/Mozart begins as Wolfgang is fired from a position in Salzburg and Maria Anna sees a chance to escape the prospect of an arranged marriage by helping him secure a position at the court of Emperor Joseph II in Vienna. But when his erratic behaviour jeopardises their plan, she takes her brother’s place, performing for the Emperor in disguise and captivating the entire court while drawing the envy of Wolfgang’s rival Antonio Salieri.
When Maria Anna convinces the Emperor to commission the first German-language opera, she must protect her charade, juggle her brother’s unpredictability and keep her secret from her new love interest – who happens to be Salieri.
Havana Joy stars as Maria Anna, with Eren M Güvercin as Wolfgang. The cast also includes Eidin Jalali, Verena Altenberger, Peter Kurth, Philipp Hochmair, Sonja Weißer, Lisa Vicari and Annabelle Mandeng.
The series is produced by Story House Pictures in coproduction with Germany’s ARD, ORF in Austria and The Dreaming Sheep Company. Bavaria Media and Beta Film are handling international sales.
“We wanted to look at a part of Mozart’s life that is completely underdeveloped,” says Gutzeit, who writes the series with Swantje Oppermann (Dignity). “It’s something that people have not really thought about, looked at or imagined. When you look at somebody who, like Maria Anna, who grew up in the same environment as he did and then was pulled off the stage and forgotten, that is a powerful story, and we wanted to create a story that brings this tension between the siblings to the absolute breaking point.
“In the end, both of them are Mozart – one couldn’t do without the other. This is a story of redemption, a story of love. This is a story of viewing your opponent and being graceful about it. That’s a good story in today’s world, and it’s also just fun to see this play out, because this is how, at least I think, human relationships should work.”
His work on Mozart/Mozart marks the fifth year Gutzeit has turned around six episodes of a period drama, after his work across four seasons of Sisi, which follows the life of the Empress Elisabeth of Austria.
Set in 1780s Vienna, the characters who appear on screen are all real, but what they did behind closed doors, “that’s our story,” says the writer, who took similar creative license with Sisi.
“There are going to be people that are going to say, ‘How can you cast somebody like this? How can you play music like this? That didn’t happen like that.’ My answer to this is, ‘This is our story.’ This is not a documentary. After 250 years, I think it’s OK to use iconic figures like this, and use them to tell a new story. We’re treating our characters with a lot of love, with a lot of respect, to them emotionally and also to their myth.”
He also hopes the series will inspire young women with a story about someone who found it difficult to break into the arts. “That’s why this will resonate, because the message is fairly simple,” Gutzeit adds. “If you stick with it, if you trust in your talents and if you work hard and are not going to be deterred, there will be a way for you to succeed. I have two young daughters and that is the message that I want them to take away from that story.”
Behind the camera, Gutzeit heads a creative team that boasts director Clara von Arnim (The Zewiflers), DOP Simon Dat Vu, producer Simona Weber and executive producer Jens Freels (Sisi).
Then there’s Jessica De Rooij (Sisi), who has taken up the unenviable challenge of creating the music for a series about one of history’s greatest composer.
For the showrunner, the intersection between the story in Mozart/Mozart and the music was always central to the development of the series, with an ambition to make the music relevant to a younger audience.
“The story is loud, wild and a lot of fun, and we wanted to have the same quality in the music,” he says. “You cannot ignore this music – nor should you if you have the opportunity to make a show about Mozart. But how do we actually create something that will speak to an audience that may not be so interested in classical music? The conversation about the balance of how much Mozart and how many modern elements was central, through writing the show, through planning the shooting, to actually creating the music that mixes those two things.”
Music is heard on the show’s soundtrack and is also performed by characters on screen. Director von Arnim also came up with a visual conceit that, when Maria Anna plays, the show literally takes viewers inside the minds of the characters to see how the music touches them emotionally.
What they didn’t want to do was use modern music in a period drama a la Netflix series Bridgerton. “Our approach is wholly original,” Gutzeit says. “It’s wholly Jessica on the musical side, me and Swantje on the story side, and Clara’s on the visual side. So all of these put together, it’s something new, and we’re happy and proud.”
With the finishing touches being added to the show ahead of its December launch on ARD, a second season is already “ready and written in my head,” says Gutzeit, who states this story “is not done.”
“There’s a great, powerful second season in the minds of Swantje and myself. Obviously, we have to see how the show works,” he says. “It’s hard to sell shows like that. It’s hard to make the money back on shows like that. But as we know from four seasons of Sisi, which is sold into 120 territories around the world, we hope we can repeat it. If that’s true, I don’t see why there shouldn’t be a second season. It’s certainly not for lack of story.”
As for whether the drama will reconsider Maria Anna Mozart’s place in history and her contribution to her brother’s success, Gutzeit believes she deserves recognition.
“It’s a show where, regardless of what you know, what her real contribution was in terms of who wrote which note and how much of her music is really in Mozart’s, the fact is that she deserves recognition for the life that she led at that time,” he says. “In our story, you follow her journey to the end, and that’s very gratifying. It’s a happy end. We wouldn’t have it any other way.”
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tagged in: Andreas Gutzeit, Austria, Clara von Arnim, Jens Freels, Maria Anna Mozart, Mozart/Mozart, Simona Weber, Swantje Oppermann, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart